Day 137 – Pearl Spring and the Old City of Ji’nan

Today we decided to spend the day with Eva while she showed us some new sites of Ji’nan.  We first met her at the Warrior’s Monument near Black Tiger Springs.  We climbed to the top and looked at the pictures in the memorial.  They are proud of the history they have here in Ji’nan because of how they were able to defeat the Nationalist Army that was stationed here in.  Ji’nan was a transportation hub for the area, so it was important for the Red Army to defeat this stronghold of the Nationalists and take control of it. 

The Liberation Monument.  It is one of the corners of the old wall that surrounded the city, but was rebuilt as a monument for those killed.

One of the relief murals telling the story of the People's Liberation Army.

Near the top of the monument.

A relief map showing the battle for the city.  It took the Red Army about 6 days to defeat the Nationalists here in Ji'nan.

From the top we could see this swimming pool that was fed by one of the springs and there were people swimming in it.  The green is the pool.  The other is the moat around the old city wall.

After the memorial, we found the Pearl Spring. It is so named because the bubbles that come up in the water from the springs look like pearls as they float to the surface.  The area was very beautiful, even without all the leave or the absence of flowers.  We will go back in the springtime to see this again.

Pearl Spring.

A cute little pavilion just asking for us to take a picture by it.

One of the cute bridges in the area over the canals.

Part of one of Pearl Springs area.

They had this great mound of rocks that was just begging for some kids to climb to the top, so David did!  We tried to get the other boys to wave to me, but they didn't.

A zig-zag bridge that goes to this little building.

This picture was inside the little building.  Eva says it depicts what the ancient Chinese believed about heaven.  the woman in the middle is the great Empress of Heaven. Her husband is the Jade God.

Lunch was at a local KFC and then we walked over to the area that is known as the “Old City”.  This is an original part of the city that has been preserved as it has been for centuries as a tourist area to see what old Ji’nan was like.  The buildings are all one-story and the lanes are narrow and in some places, only one person at a time can go through.  People still live here and sometimes live pretty much the way their ancestors have lived, with just a few modern conveniences added in.  We saw people washing their clothing in the same canals that people did hundreds of years ago. 

Walking down the streets of the old city of Ji'nan.

The large spring that the old gentleman led us to.  

A close up of the red dot in the previous picture.  This woman was doing her clothes washing.

In this old city area, there are 78 springs.  The canals channel the water and it eventually flows into DaMing Lake, but the houses are kind of build around the small canals so that the houses have easy access to the water.  We went in one area, looking for one of the springs and an older man took us to where it was.  He was so pleased with himself that he could say, “USA” and “Good-bye” in English.  He might have known more, but that is all he said to us. 

This wasn't even the narrowest street we saw.

There were people swimming in the area that holds this spring.  I don’t remember if it had a name, but it was a pretty good sized swimming area.  They were swimming back and forth in just a pair of swim trunks.  This on a day when we needed our coats on the 11^th day of January!  I suspect the water is on the warmish side, but didn’t take the time to test it.  Some would sit to have their hair cut first by someone (I assume the local barber…) and then go for their swim.  I guess if you are used to doing this, you can handle it, but I just wanted to shiver!

The people swimming on Jan. 11 in the spring.

The entry way down to the water for the swimmers.  They would get out and change out of their wet swimsuits right there.

We found a Christian church that is in the area and took pictures of it.  Then we went on the busy Frong Lu (street).  This is a street that is dedicated to the local cuisine.  You can find so many things to eat on this street!  We had a few local favorites: mutton on a stick, goutie, and glazed fruit on a stick.  All of them were good.  We also had to break down and buy some ice cream that was being sold.  We joke with Eva that we are the “crazy American’s who eat ice cream in the winter.”  I assume it if is being sold on the street, there are more than just a few “crazy American’s” buy it.  We were correct when we saw a young Chinese couple enjoying it later. 

 

The old Christian church that we found.

By four, we were getting pretty tired and my feet were screaming at me to get off of them, so we tried to get a taxi, but had to take a bus instead, as none of them wanted to stop for us.  While we were on the bus, the post office that had our package from the US called Eva to say that they had found it and it was waiting for us there.  We made our way there and after another long walk, we had our Christmas package!  We left Eva to take a bus home and walked home ourselves.  Happy to be off of my feet and also to have the package we had been waiting and searching for!